Privacy policy and data handling practices

Privacy Policy

How personal information is collected, used, and protected on this site

Information Collected From Visitors

The site collects personal information from visitors in limited circumstances — primarily when a visitor submits a contact form, subscribes to community announcements, or submits work to the gallery archive. The information collected is limited to what is necessary for the stated purpose of the interaction. Visitors who browse the site without submitting any form or creating any account do not provide personal information beyond what is captured automatically by standard server and analytics systems.

Name and email address submitted through the contact form or newsletter subscription field on the site
Message content and selected topic submitted through the contact form by the visiting user
Gallery submission content including artwork photographs, technique notes, and sourcing information provided voluntarily
Technical data collected automatically including IP address, browser type, device type, and pages visited during a session
Cookie data collected in accordance with the site's Cookie Policy, including session identifiers and analytics preference markers

Visitors are not required to provide personal information to access the publicly available content on this site, including the tutorial archive, gallery, and event listings. Personal information is only collected where the visitor initiates an interaction that requires it, such as submitting a form or requesting a newsletter subscription.

How Collected Information Is Used

Personal information collected through the contact form is used solely to respond to the enquiry submitted. The site operator does not use contact form submissions for marketing purposes, does not add contact form submitters to mailing lists without explicit consent, and does not share the content of enquiries with third parties except where required by law. Response communications are directed to the email address provided in the form submission.

Email addresses collected through the newsletter subscription field are used to distribute community announcements, event notifications, and updates to the tutorial archive. Subscribers may withdraw consent and unsubscribe at any time by following the unsubscribe link included in every newsletter communication. Analytics data is used in aggregated, anonymised form to understand how visitors navigate the site and to identify areas where content or structure may be improved. Individual visitors are not identified through analytics data.

Rights of Visitors Under Australian Privacy Law

Under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles, individuals have rights with respect to the personal information held about them by the site operator. These rights include the right to access personal information on request, the right to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information, the right to request deletion of personal information in certain circumstances, and the right to make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner where a privacy concern cannot be resolved directly with the site operator.

Right of Access

Visitors may request access to any personal information held about them by the site operator at any time by contacting the site operator through the details published on the contact page of this site

Right of Rectification

Visitors may request correction of personal information that is inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date, and the site operator will action reasonable correction requests promptly

Right of Erasure

Visitors may request deletion of personal information held about them where that information is no longer required for the purpose for which it was collected

Right of Portability

Visitors may request a copy of personal information held about them in a structured and commonly used format where technically practicable

Sharing of Personal Information

The site operator does not sell, rent, or trade personal information collected from visitors to third parties for commercial purposes. Personal information is not shared with third parties except in the limited circumstances described in this section. Where third-party service providers process personal information on behalf of the site operator — including analytics providers and email delivery services — those providers are required to handle the information in accordance with applicable privacy law.

Personal information may be disclosed where required by Australian law, by a court order, or by a regulatory authority with lawful authority to require disclosure. The site operator will notify affected individuals of any such disclosure where permitted by law to do so. Personal information may also be transferred to a successor organisation in the event of a change of ownership or operational structure, subject to the same privacy protections described in this policy continuing to apply to that information.

Security of Personal Information

The site operator takes reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification, and disclosure. These steps include the use of secure data transmission protocols, restricted access to systems that hold personal information, and regular review of the security measures applied to those systems. No data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be entirely secure, and the site operator cannot warrant the absolute security of information transmitted to the site by visitors.

Personal information is retained only for as long as it is required for the purpose for which it was collected, or as required by applicable Australian law. Contact form submissions are retained for a period sufficient to address the enquiry and any reasonable follow-up. Newsletter subscriber records are retained until the subscriber withdraws consent. When personal information is no longer required, it is destroyed or de-identified in a secure manner.